The safety rules for flying drones have been beefed up in a bid to avoid collisions with other aircraft and to protect privacy.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has unveiled tougher rules for drone pilots which it says strike a balance between fun and safety.
"We certainly don't want to ban recreational drones but we do have to make sure public safety is properly protected," the authority's director of aviation safety Shane Carmody said on Friday.
Recreational and commercial drones must avoid areas where fire, police or other emergency operations are underway unless there is approval from the incident controller.
Recreational drones are banned from flying within 5.5 kilometres of airports with control towers in major capital cities and some regional areas.
They are also banned from flying within 5.5 kilometres of airports without control towers in regional areas or helicopter landing sites if it is clear aircraft are operating there.
Recreational drones must be flown below 400 feet at all times and kept more than 30 metres from people who are not involved in controlling the drone.
The rules state pilots can only fly one drone at a time.
Existing rules still apply prohibiting drones flying over crowds as well as mandating flights only during the day and within visual line of sight.
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